U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
Patent Technology Monitoring Team (PTMT)

PATENTING TRENDS
CALENDAR YEAR 2009

(document dated 16-APR-2010)

In calendar year 2009, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted 167,349 utility, 23,116 design, 1,009
plant, and 453 reissue patents, and 6 statutory invention registrations for a total of 191,933 patent
documents for the year.

Annual grants of all patent documents increased by 3.6 percent when compared
to the total for calendar year 2008 (185,244 grants in 2008). Calendar year 2009 grants of utility patents
('patents for inventions') numbered 167,349, a 6.1 percent increase above the total for 2008 (157,772).

In 2009, the share of all patents that were issued to U.S.-resident inventors was 49.5 percent, a decrease from
the U.S. share for 2008 (49.7%). California-resident inventors claimed a 24.6 percent share (23,354 patents) of
these U.S.-resident inventor patents, followed by resident inventors from Texas (6.8 percent, 6,436 patents),
New York (6.4 percent, 6,127 patents), Washington (5.1 percent, 4,856 patents), Massachusetts
(4.2 percent, 4,038 patents), Illinois (3.8 percent, 3,615 patents), and Michigan (3.7 percent, 3,516 patents.
U.S.-resident inventors of the following areas had the largest percentage increases in patent receipts from 2008 to 2009:
Alaska, Wyoming, North Dakota, Utah, Washington, and New Hampshire.

There were 12,696 patents granted to U.S. independent inventors in 2009, down from the 2008 count of U.S. independent
inventor patents (13,063). The independent inventor share of all patents issued to U.S.-resident inventors dropped to
13.4 percent in 2009 from a 14.2 percent share in 2008.

Foreign-resident inventors claimed a 50.5 percent share of all U.S. patents issued in 2009. The share of all U.S.
patents that were issued to Japan-resident inventors in calendar year 2009 was 19.8 percent, unchanged from 2008.
The 2009 share of U.S. patents that were issued to Germany-resident inventors was 5.4 percent, unchanged from 2008.
For South Korean-resident inventors, the 2009 share was 5.0 percent, up from 4.7 percent in 2008 and the share for
Taiwan-resident inventors was 4.1 percent for 2009, unchanged from 2008. Countries with notable increases in patent
receipts for 2009 include Bulgaria, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Greece, Liechtenstein, Austria, Chile and People's Republic
of China.

The foreign countries of origin receiving the most U.S. patents during calendar year 2009 are displayed
in the table below. Following the table is a detail table that lists states and countries of patent origin
and the percentage change in patenting from 2008 to 2009.

This table displays the thirteen foreign countries of origin receiving the most U.S.
patents during calendar year 2009. Figures for the United States and for all countries overall
are listed at the end of the table. Counts include utility, design, plant, and reissue patents,
and statutory invention registrations. Patent origin is based on the residence of the first-named inventor.

Rankin 2009

Numberof Patentsin 2009

Share ofAll Patentsin 2009

Country

(Rankin 2008)

(Numberof patentsin 2008)

(2008 to 2009)(Change in Numberof patents)

1

38,066

19.8%

Japan

(1)

(36,679)

( 3.8% )

2

10,353

5.4%

Germany

(2)

(10,085)

( 2.7% )

3

9,566

5.0%

South Korea

(3)

( 8,730)

( 9.6% )

4

7,781

4.1%

Taiwan

(4)

( 7,779)

( 0.0% )

5

4,393

2.3%

Canada

(5)

( 4,125)

( 6.5% )

6

4,011

2.1%

United Kingdom

(6)

( 3,843)

( 4.4% )

7

3,805

2.0%

France

(7)

( 3,813)

( -0.2% )

8

2,270

1.2%

China, People's Rep.

(9)

( 1,874)

( 21.1% )

9

1,837

1.0%

Italy

(8)

( 1,916)

( -4.1% )

10

1,558

0.8%

Netherlands

(10)

( 1,725)

( -9.7% )

11

1,550

0.8%

Australia

(11)

( 1,613)

( -3.9% )

12

1,525

0.8%

Israel

(13)

( 1,312)

( 16.2% )

13

1,454

0.8%

Switzerland

(12)

( 1,403)

( 3.6% )

95,037

49.5%

United States

( 92,001)

( 3.3% )

96,896

50.5%

All Foreign

( 93,243)

( 3.9% )

191,933

100.0%

All Countries

(185,244)

( 3.6% )

Annual Percentage Change in Patent Counts
By U.S. State and Country of Origin
Calendar Year 2008 to 2009

This table displays states and countries of origin along with
the annual percentage change in patent counts (including utility,
design, plant, and reissue patents, and statutory invention
registrations) from calendar year 2008 to 2009. U.S., foreign, and overall
totals are displayed at the beginning of the table.
Patent origin is based on the residence of the first-named inventor.